Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Wednesday - September 22, 2010
From: Arlington, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Deer Resistant
Title: Deer Resistant Plants for Northern Virginia
Answered by: Mike Tomme
QUESTION:
I'm looking for deer resistant shade plants in Northern Virginia. The deer have devoured my hostas, impatiens and native toad lily plants, day lilies.ANSWER:
One of the advantages of using native plants in a landscape is that natives are generally more resistant to the pests found in the plants native area. We don't usually think of deer as pests, but they can be when they eat up your carefully cultivated (and often expensive) plants.
Here is a link to a previous Mr. Smarty Plants answer on this subject: Deer Resistant Plants for Great Falls, VA. This answer provided a list of deer resistant plants for Virginia.
If you would like to generate your own list, here's how:
From the Wildflower.org home page, click on the Explore Plants tab near the top of the page,
Select Recommended Species from the list on the upper right,
Select Deer Resistant under the heading Special Collections,
On the Deer Resistant Species page, select your state from the drop down menu under Select State and Province, then click on Narrow Your Search at the bottom of the sidebar. This will generate a list of all the deer resistant plants in the database that are native to the area you selected. You can further refine your search by specifying a general appearance and lifespan and checking boxes under light requirement, soil moisture, bloom time and bloom color.
More Deer Resistant Questions
Are birdhouse gourds deer-resistant?
January 24, 2009 - Bird house gourds: they smell nasty (to this human being) but I NEED to know if deer are as repelled as a human by the strong odor put off by the plants.
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Plant for deep shade in Pennsylvania
April 09, 2013 - Hi! I am landscaping our house and trying to use only plants that provide seasonal benefit to bees, butterflies, birds etc. not the deer though. My question is that I have a fairly steep slope of abou...
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Need ground cover plants to grow in the shade a large oak in San Antonio, TX
March 09, 2015 - We have a large backyard in San Antonio covered with live oak and red oak. Since grass does not do well in this shade / bright shade area I would like to plant a low growing ground cover and then add...
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Deer resistant, Shaded Privacy Hedge for Wakefield RI
September 12, 2013 - We recently removed the dead undergrowth of white pines that were used for privacy. We need advice as to what type of evergreen would be suitable for growth beneath the branches above. It is VERY shad...
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Is Smooth Sumac deer resistant
September 01, 2008 - Dear Mr. Smarty Plants,
I noticed there was no deer resistant rating for smooth sumac in your plant data base. Aromatic sumac is rated as 'high'.
Do you have an opinion on deer resistance for smo...
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